U.S. President Bush convicted by International Criminal Tribunal for Afghanistan

At the 4th and final International Criminal Tribunal for Afghanistan held on March 13 in Tokyo, chief judge Niikura Osamu published the full text of the main sentence he delivered at the 3rd tribunal in December 2003 convicting U.S. President George W. Bush of crimes against humanity. Bush was found guilty of initiating the war of aggression with attacks on non-combatants, and causing massive displacements in the retaliatory war on Afghanistan.

"Bush was unqualified for the post of president", read the sentence.

In closing the tribunal that started with the 1st public hearing on December 15 2002, the judge included a ban on the use of deleted uranium (DU) in the recommendation.

The tribunal also called on the U.S. government to pay compensation for the damage it has caused to the Afghan people by using DU during its retaliatory war.

Niikura also emphasized that although Japan's Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro was not accused in the tribunal, he must take responsibility for the consequences in his cooperation with and support of the U.S. president in the war.

Stressing the urgent need for Japan to contribute to world peace with its Constitution that has the war-renouncing Article 9, the court demanded that Koizumi immediately bring home the Self-Defense Forces now deployed in Iraq working with the U.S. occupation forces.

About 400 citizens, including representatives from the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAW), attended the tribunal. (end)